Game in a nutshell: The Nationals had been waiting five weeks for Bryce Harper to return from the DL and inject some life into their moribund lineup, but even they couldn't have foreseen this kind of dramatic effect. Harper stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first to a standing ovation, then kept them all on his feet when he homered into the left-field bullpen. His teammates took over from there, scoring five times in the third and twice more in the fourth to take a commanding 8-0 lead. Well, it should've been a commanding lead, except Jordan Zimmermann surprisingly let the Brewers claw their way back, trimming the deficit at one point to 8-5. No worries, because the back end of the Nationals bullpen clamped things down late and the lineup added two insurance runs in the eighth, completing a very comfortable victory to open this homestand. With 23 runs over their last two games, they're now back to two games over the .500 mark and once again feeling good about themselves.

Hitting highlight: Obviously, there were plenty of early fireworks, but it all started with one sweet swing from the young man whoRead more »

waddu eye no said… stat heads – how often do we give up five runs and win?btw – italian store in arlington for takeout.gyfng July 01, 2013 10:05 PM waddu, this isthe 7th time the Nats have given up 5 runs or more and Won.

How great to have Strasburg following Jordan! If Milwaukee was tired after yesterday, they will now be just overwhelmed. Can only hope that after those two, the Brewers are a little deflated and our #4 & 5 can win at least one of the last two.

When was the last time we were 3 games over .500?MicheleS – are you there tomorrow??Insiders – is it section 312 or 313 for the picnic table meetups?I will be at Justin's at 5:30 and then move from there.Go Nats!!

MicheleS – 5:30 or so depending on metroAnother question – I looked at this lineup and noticed that of the 8 position players there was NO ONE under .200. Can you Insiders remember when we played games with as many as 4 guys hitting under .200!! This lineup should only get better. If our bench can start to produce I think we will be just fine.

look to see NIers tomorrow…I am in sect. 135, row C next to Mayor of Nats town…hot as heck.Now back to pizzayes, sjm, I think Facci's is outstanding…I stop there on the way back from New GermanyI liked Radius in Mt. Pleasant the one time I went there.Have not tried paradiso in many years and it was in Gtown.Friends were impressed with Menomale craft beer when we went Saturday.You and your buds sound like you may be powerless over pizza. consider a support group like mine:http://www.meetup.com/Pizza-Addicts-Anonymous/Great game…we're on a roll.Michele, not sure what you think of Pomodoro's near you…my italian brother-in-law from NY likes it.DaMarco's in Bethesda has 1/2 price pizza Mon-Wed after 4 pm at the bar. $5 for a 10" Neopolitan Margherita with a great oval wood oven from Naples.Compare that to a $6 slice of papa john's at the park. Why they got rid of Z pizza for PJ's…oh yeah, corporate moneyin the old days, I only had Vaces and 4 nats starters with BAs under .200

Fish won again. Shutout for Fernandez. I'm telling you the Fish are going to finish strong unless they trade everyone. Turner, Nolasco, Eovaldi, and Fernandez are a better rotation than many of the playoff teams. Ozuna and Stanton are legit. The rest of the team stinks.

"Key stat: Werth recorded five RBI tonight for the first time since July 6, 2009 when he played for the Phillies."Awesome!"and of course – nicola's in rehoboth"Nicola's is awesome!Section222, I hear you meet my folks… Also awesome! :)Tonight's game was awesome then stressful then awesome. Good stuff in the end!

You call that a pitching lowlight????? Did it ever occur to you that the guy spent the entire night running bases? Not to mention the fact that it's difficult to stay in rhythm when the bottom of each inning is so long. Guy gives up four, gets three hits and it's a bad outing? Goes to show you how good JZ usually is when this outing seems bad.

jeffwx – look up to 308 and give a wave but there is no way I am going down to seek you out. My Newcastle stand is one row away and I like our seats. We are not powerless on the pizza but its been a great way to spend the last few years. I like that DaMarco's serves the pizza uncut like they do in Naples. Menomale does the same thing. My daughter lives in Bethesda and rotates between DaMarco's and Mia's. Its a rough life.

The Mets are SO bad!! Putz blows the save, so it's 3-3 in the ninth. 2 out. On a wild pitch, the runner on 2nd goes to 3rd– but John Buck who is on first base with a MEANINGLESS run, tries to advance to second and gets thrown out. Unbelievable.

David Proctor, great stats. The entire bullpen looks great except Stammen. I'm telling you he is hurting. We should be concerned about Craig.Loved that Storen came in for a stopper moment. That was huge.

You may not value Davey, but when you see Terry Collins, you know what a BAD manager is. Just stupid mistakes, like pitching to Suzuki when the pitcher is coming up, not bunting in an obvious bunting situation, I think there were at least 1/2 dozen "manager's" errors and missing fundamentals in our series.

Storen has been looking really, really good- not just his numbers, the way his pitches look. And Chad Tracy is starting to hit. And then there is the matter of JZim and Stras being just so much less awkward in interviews

NatsLady said… Ghost, Garcia must be about ready. How about Mattheus on the 60-day, Stammen on the 15-day, and bring Garcia up? Garcia is on the 60-day right now. I took a look at his movement on his pitches last week vs his good appearances in April and his movement is off which could mean he is possibly over-throwing.Has to be a reason for it. I was very surprised to see Davey use him tonight but maybe he needed to see him in a Med Lev situation as he has only been getting Low Lev situations.He is now becoming the HenRod and that isn't good.

I correct myself. Davey put him in Med Lev on Saturday in a 2-1 game and he immediately let the inherited runner score plus 2 more Earned runs that led to the 5-1 loss on Taylor Jordan's debut.That would have been a spot for Mattheus where you need that groundball doubleplay.For Davey to pull Stammen mid-inning tells you all you need to know as Davey rarely does that.

jeffwx said… yes, I like the original Ledo's relocated in College Park. They give you two trays for a large and homemade sausage.Always have the nats on at the bar too.Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same.Used to eat day old Ledo for breakfast the next day and it was even better.Darn, I miss that place.

Davey pulled Stammen mid-inning a couple of times last year, at least once when he had only pitched to one batter. I think it must be fairly obvious when he doesn't have "it," because, as you say, Davey doesn't like to pull pitchers mid-inning (except starters).

Down on the farm the development staff is coaxing excellent years out of a host of young pitchers. Guys are earning promotions and continuing to succeed.Taylor Hill, a sixth rounder out of Vandy, has allowed two earned runs in his first 14 innings at Harrisburg, following his promotion from Potomac.Blake Schwartz, the 17th rounder out of Oklahoma City, now has a 2.60 ERA in 12 starts at Potomac following his promotion from Hagerstown.And these are the unheralded guys! The scouting and development staffs are doing an impressive job.

GOSM:I keep hoping to see Goodwin put it all together.Drafting college bats is less expensive because the guys have less leverage, but it seems it would put a lot of pressure on guys who are 21 or 22 in low A ball.Guys like Brandon Miller and Tony Renda will have to play very well consistently to keep moving up and maintain the "prospect" mantle.Michael Taylor has been developing for years, but he's still 22. We'll see how he does in AA next year.The fascinating pick we haven't talked about is Drew Ward, the raw high school slugger from Oklahoma. He signed at 17 and has time to develop.It will be very interesting to see if he can "express his talent," as Davey likes to say.

"Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same."As I said before, basically exactly the same pizza at the relocated Ledo's as they had at the original location. I think they even moved the original pizza ovens. I had franchise Ledo's yesterday for the first time in many years… Forgot how much better the original is!

Went to the game, had a great time. Werth, Harper, Span all had good games at the plate. I wasn't too worried about JZ, but still, didn't like the let up. I read through the game blog,and I noticed a few regulars MIA tonight.Just wanted to say that David Proctor generally has terrific posts. Didn't get the attacks, but the attacker comes on here periodically and singles someone out. Don't take it personally.jeffwx, one particular place you mentioned has exceptional pizza, with a very good beer selection, and is still usually fairly quiet.I don't want it to get so popular that nobody ever goes there anymore because it's too crowded. Its kind of like where I usually park for free; I keep quiet about it. Greedy me, but so be it.It was especially nice to me to see a ML outfield of all real starter quality players.They all hit tonight,too.Desi's defense has become a joy to watch.

Eric said…"Same flakey crust? The franchise Ledo have a different crust and slightly different sauce and the provolone isn't exactly the same."As I said before, basically exactly the same pizza at the relocated Ledo's as they had at the original location. I think they even moved the original pizza ovens. I had franchise Ledo's yesterday for the first time in many years… Forgot how much better the original is!———————–//////—–The ovens are the key to the difference between the original and the franchises. I've enjoyed Ledo's for nearly 50 years. I still like the francise stuff better then any of the other chain pizza. Papa John's is a Nationals Insult. What a bunch of garbage.

"I've enjoyed Ledo's for nearly 50 years. I still like the francise stuff better then any of the other chain pizza."Agreed. It was enjoyable Sunday, but still not the OG awesome sauce ;)"Papa John's is a Nationals Insult. What a bunch of garbage."Actually, why the hell isn't Ledo's served at Nats Park, a la Ben's Chili Bowl? Or, is it, and I've just missed it?"Then again, there's the theory "the more you give, the more you get." :-)"Indeed!